Wilmington, NC News

Archive for February, 2013

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — There are still questions tonight why a man accused of hitting and killing a woman in a suspected drunk driving crash Friday was not in jail for previous crimes.

Pierre Walker had twice been convicted of DWI this month alone and was on probation in at least three counties.

“When you look at what causes the most death and destruction every year in the 5th (judicial) district, and the 13th district for that matter, it’s not guns or knives. It’s a car being driven by an impaired driver,” David said. “Impaired drivers, which cause these accidents, which are no accidents at all, are going to continue to face the full measure of the law.”

According to court records Pierre Walker, 26, was no stranger to area court rooms. In February alone he was convicted on two separate DWI charges.

“Mr. Walker was a priority for my office, because he had demonstrated not once but twice that he was driving while subject to impairing substances, and anyone who does that is more likely to offend again, and so we wanted to make sure that his cases were prosecuted to the fullest extent, and they were,” David said.

David’s brother Jon, who is DA in Brunswick and Columbus counties, where Walker’s newest charges are, says his DWI convictions this month should have gotten him at least 60 days in jail. Instead, Jon David says Walker got probation.

Judge Sandra Ray heard both of those cases. She left WWAY a voicemail in answer to our questions about Walker’s sentence.

“I have pulled both of those files, and I’ve got that driving record, and they were not 60 days. One conviction was a year in prison. Another was two years in prison,” she said in the call.

But court records show that in each case Ray suspended the sentences in favor of 24 months of supervised probation.

She was in court Tuesday and could not be reached to further explain her decisions.

WWAY spoke with the family of Martha Mintz, the mother and grandmother killed in Friday’s crash. They did not want to talk on camera, but they said they would like to speak with Judge Ray about her decision and that they hope Walker spends the rest of his life in prison.